Award-Winning Drama “Last Tango in Halifax” to Debut in U.S. on PBS

Is it just me, or is PBS upping its purchases of fabulous British TV series? If not in actuality, then it certainly feels that way, especially when we have another to look forward to later this summer. Namely, the BAFTA TV Award-winning Last Tango in Halifax.

“A heartwarming tale of love and second chances,” Last Tango in Halifax stars BAFTA TV Award nominees Sir Derek Jacobi (Cadfael, I, Claudius) and Anne Reid (Ladies of Letters, Upstairs, Downstairs) as former childhood sweethearts Alan and Celia, widowed septuagenarians who are reunited via social media and fall in love with each other all over again after nearly six decades apart.

Over the course of the first series’ six episodes, “the couple laments what might have been as they take audiences on a life-affirming journey together. While their relationship is a celebratory tale of the power of love at any age, it is also a story about family and the complications the relationship causes, especially for their grown daughters.”

Said Beth Hoppe, Chief Programming Executive and General Manager, General Audience Programming, PBS:

“I fell in love with ‘Last Tango’ and its stars from the moment I saw it. And love and family and all the complications that come with it are at the heart of this warm comedy-drama.”

Written by BAFTA-nominated and RTS Award-winning Sally Wainwright (Scott & Bailey, Unforgiven), Last Tango in Halifax aired in the UK in late 2012 and gained quite a following, making it the biggest new mid-week drama on any channel in the UK in 2012 and one of BBC One’s highest-rated drama series of the year. Production has begun on the second series, which was commissioned in December.

Last Tango in Halifax premieres on PBS on Sunday, 8 September 2013, at 8PM Eastern. (Check your local listings.)